Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

It is hard to believe that the season is half over….the days are noticeably shorter, the colors in the garden are changing and space is opening up as crops are harvested and we don’t have the frenzied pace to replant. We find ourselves reflecting and already pondering next season. We are thrilled with the success of so many crops. The peas were our best ever and so was the onion harvest.

Storage onions drying in the greenhouse.

Garlic is gorgeous and drying in the shed. Our zucchini and cucumbers are power houses and continue to chug along. The pepper plants are loaded! We are amazed the plants recovered from the slow start of the cold, wet, prolonged Spring.

Sweet Carmen

Sweet Carmen not yet ripe.

Lettuce has flourished in the cool temperatures of this summer.

Lettuce garden. The center was planted this week and the leaf lettuce cut this week from the right.

Our potato harvest is bountiful and we are optimistic about many of our Fall Crops.

Turnips, and radishes and beets.

Tomatoes are the only crop that has really suffered the effects of all this cold. The are doing their best and making a good showing but not the crop of last year. We are grateful for what we have. The Cherries are bountiful, Paste tomatoes are lush on the vines if they ever get the opportunity to ripen and the Slicers are there too just not in the volume we had hoped. We are beyond terrified about late blight that seems to be creeping closer and have heard the horror stories of gardens where the entire tomato crop goes down in 7 days. The watermelon crop is “hanging out” as well this year. Almost 4 weeks behind last weeks harvest. So hard to tell and always a disappointment when one is cut too soon. I’ve cut 3 melons to check and the insides are pink. We are almost there and there are tons of the beauties out there.

Crimson Sweet

Black Tail

We started our pear harvest this week and they are beautiful. Pears will be in the boxes soon. Last year we did not have a single fruit.

We had a nice fruiting again this week of Shiitake Mushrooms they will be available in the “extra” box at both sites.

WHAT IS IN YOUR BOX

Average box weight this week is a whopping 17.05 pounds! 699.05 pounds of deliciousness out this door today.

shave the zucchini using a vegetable peeler. make long strips and shave until you reach the heavily seeded part. turn and begin again. in the end, you will have a core. discard. heat olive oil in a skillet. add the whole, but smashed garlic and let it brown. remove the garlic (you are using it just to flavor the oil) and toss in the zucchini. toss continually and allow the zucchini to cook through…this will take about 5-10 minutes. add zest, thyme and lemon juice. taste for seasoning–add salt and pepper to taste.

salt and pepper to taste

Zucchini Chips

From the blog Vittles and Bits

Baked Zucchini Chips

1 zucchini

canola cooking spray

seasoned salt, or other seasoning(s) of your choice

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil, and spray with canola oil. Set aside.

Slice zucchini into thin medallions, about the thickness of a quarter. (You can either use a knife & a very steady hand, or a mandoline slicer.)

Lay out slices on prepared baking sheet, and spray tops lightly with additional cooking spray. Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. (A note on seasoning, however – use LESS than what seems appropriate. These shrink considerably in the oven, and if you use too much it gets very concentrated. It’s better to end up underseasoning and add more later.)

Place in preheated oven and bake 45 minutes. Rotate baking sheet, and bake an additional 30-50 minutes, until chips are browned and crisped to your liking. These are best eaten within a couple hours of removing from the oven, as they start to get chewy if left out. One zucchini makes one serving (1/4 C. – 1/3 C. of chips depending on the size of your squash).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook about 9 minutes, or according to the package directions. Remove 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and set it aside. Drain the pasta. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, Parmesan, lemon zest, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, and cook just until wilted, flipping them over occasionally with a spatula. (The zucchini will be soft and somewhat see-through.)

Use a spoon or spatula to push the zucchini aside so a space on the bottom of the pan is clear. Add the garlic, and cook for 15 to 30 seconds, until golden but not really brown.

Mix the garlic into the zucchini.

Stir in the tomatoes and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the zucchini mixture to the yogurt mixture, and stir to combine. Add the drained linguine, and toss gently to combine. Add the reserved pasta cooking water a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to thin it. Divide among four bowls and serve.

We survived the daily rains of last week, just shy of 5 inches total. As mentioned before what a different season from last year. We were far beyond desperate for rain at this time last year and now this season fearful it will never end. It was difficult to get in the garden at times because it was a soupy mess, we had to modify our planting and harvesting schedule a bit, Scott had to dig trenches to drain water off and we had to wear funny HOT! rain pants all week and still got wet.

The rain seems to be behind us (for now) and we only lost a few rounds of lettuce that could not handle the extreme moisture and steamy heat.

The garden grew and grew with all the heat and moisture-and we are STILL well weeded! We have made several passes through the carrot bed, another pass through the onions, Scott has all the rows clear and mowed. Neat and tidy. Several crops maturing….We are excited to see what happens next week… tiny beans on the plants, cabbage heading up nicely, summer squash just getting started, beautiful!! cauliflower, maybe even some cucumbers too! Summer is here.

We are thrilled with the pea harvest this season. Last year we were lucky that everyone got just a taste of peas. Germination was terrible in the early heat, and then we were picking peas from pathetic knee high vines. NOT this year….we may need a ladder and the shelling vines are loaded. Snow peas are plentiful and snaps oh so sweet. Enjoy!

Zucchini!

Itty Bitty Beans on the plants.

Melon vines starting to flower.

Blueberry Bushes are LOADED and starting to show a blush of color.

I just love to take pictures of potato flowers……beautiful.

WHAT IS IN YOUR BOX

Every shade of green!

Lettuce-Another beautiful oak leaf variety.

Celery-A surprise appearance….I thought we would be a week or 2 out on this crop. Lots of celery in the garden. Another favorite. Amazing flavor!!! Nothing like the celery sold in grocery stores. Delicious in soups, fantastic in salads. Use stalks and leaves…

Broccoli-This is the Spring planted Broccoli. 2 varieties. We also have Summer broccoli planted and will plant a Fall cold hardy crop too.

Garlic Scapes-The last cutting in the garlic patch. Remember these hold very well in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag.

Pea Medley!!!!!

Snow Peas-2 varieties-1 is a giant! These are the long flat peas. Eat pod and all. We boxed these up in green berry boxes this week.

Sugar Snap Peas- Deliciously sweet. Eat pod and all. These are labeled and packaged in a clear plastic clamshell.

Shelling Peas-Shell and eat peas ONLY….pod is VERY fibrous. Packaged in a plastic bag this week. Shelling peas are just getting started…..2 more plantings are maturing.

Mint-Peas and mint are the perfect match….a hearty bunch for everyone. Cut stems and keep it in a glass of water in the refrigerator.

Collard Greens-4 varieties planted of these pretty leaves. Work great for “burrito style” sandwiches or wraps, tasty in smoothies. A few recipes at the end of the post.

Basil Plant-Big beautiful plants. We like to grow a plant for everyone to take home every year….enjoy! We will also have cut basil in future boxes at peak tomato time.

A note about recipes…..I gather recipes on Pinterest for all we grow in the garden. If any of you visit Pinterest I have a CSA Board. Feel free to take a look and/or follow it. The board is under my name Jennifer Fox. Also, if you wish to post a favorite recipe in the comment section feel free I will publish it for all to see. The Madison CSA Coalition publishes a wonderful cookbook too.

Cut bacon into small pieces and cook in large saute pan on medium heat until slightly browned. Add in diced shallots and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Add in collards, water and ACV. Stir and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes. You don’t want brown collards, but bright green collards. Add salt and pepper and serve.

Creamed Collards

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Rose Nguyen

Try this easy method for cutting up the bacon: Remove wrapping from bacon. Place the entire pound of cold bacon on a cutting board, and slice into 12-inch cubes.

In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts (12 cups) water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Remove the collards from heat, drain, and plunge into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color. Drain, gently pressing the greens against the colander.

Another wonderful week. It sure is nice to say this. I love it when we harvest a crop and within 24 hours something new moves in. The Chinese Cabbage was harvested in the morning and by the next morning 200 kohlrabi starts took their place. Same for the Radishes. They were out-Scott does his magic, cleans everything up, prepares the area and says “it’s ready for you” and I had Daikon Radish seeds planted by supper. Things are running pretty smoothly around here. We are staying ahead of the weeds and all crops seem to be settling in. We laughed on the first day of Summer because we both said “Man, it’s over”…..if it isn’t planted or planned by now we are out of time….crazy to think this way.

A quick photo tour of the garden.

This nice lady greets me at the greenhouse.

Tomatoes ripening on the vine.

Beautiful Potato Flowers.

Broccoli Plants starting to head up.

One of us will soon be eating this little cucumber.

One of the cucumber rows.

Savoy Cabbage just starting to head.

The Garden offered up many options this week and it was hard to winnow down the selection so we were certain the box lid would close (a common mid summer problem), and that we would not all be overwhelmed with leafy green overload. Fodder!-In Scott’s words. Over 3.5 inches of rain fell last week. Gratefully we have not had any flooding issues and even though it is wet and mucky in places we are thriving.

WHAT IS IN YOU BOX

Lettuce-A sweet, dark leafed head. It glows under the row cover when the sun is just right. A favorite, and makes a beautiful salad. A second lime green lettuce is also included this week. We were unimpressed with it’s performance but it is very tasty. It’s called “prize head”-not in our book. Anyway, an add on here it will make a pretty accent in the salad bowl.

Sugar Snap Peas-They are here! Our first picking through a huge patch….this is just the beginning! This variety is called Sugar Ann. The earliest sugar snap pea to produce in our area. Ripening few days ahead of the others. You can eat the entire pea-pod and all. Great for snacking.

Chinese Cabbage-WOW! These loved the cool Spring. HUGE! heads. Will hold well in the refrigerator for a looooooong time. We cut it in 1/2 soak it in the sink in cool water, rinse and store it in sealable plastic bags in the fridge ready for future use. Tastes great raw too in salads or on sandwiches. A few interesting recipes at the end of this post too.

Salad Turnips- We are harvesting all 4 varieties this week. Scarlets are the spicier ones-whites quite mild. Remember the greens are edible too. Sauté and serve as a side or atop a bowl of your favorite pasta dish.

Fennel-Another crop that really loved the cool Spring….this is the first harvest of more to come. Fennel fronds taste really delicious added to water with citrus wedges (lime, lemon, orange). Very refreshing.

Radish-A small forgotten patch. We seeded an area in and covered it with row cover and forgot about it until this week. So, the last few gems until Fall.

Cilantro-A nice flavorful bunch. A quick salad dressing is olive oil and lime with a bit of chopped cilantro mixed in. Or added to a favorite mexican dish.

Strawberries-Baraboo Group only. Delicious and Sweet. We are thrilled that we are able to add this crop to our CSA weekly offering.

The “extra/trade” box will have a few surprises…..snow peas (the delicious long skinny guys) have just started to produce-grab a handful if you wish. A few smaller heads of broccoli and some monster heads of chinese cabbage too.

After looking online for different Asian rice recipes, I decided to make my own version of coconut cilantro rice. In this recipe I used light coconut milk (because that’s what I had on hand) but if you want the rice to have a stronger coconut flavor and to be extra rich then you should definitely use regular coconut milk. I think the cilantro gave it an extra special flavor and it really paired perfectly with the Asian Salmon and the Garlic-Ginger Bok Choy Sauté. It turned out really delicious and we all loved it, even my daughter, who usually doesn’t care for rice.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring often so the rice doesn’t stick to the pan, for 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and coconut milk then season with sea salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low. Cover and let cook 20 minutes.

Remove the rice from the burner without removing the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and fluff rice with a fork. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and mix until well combined. Taste & re-season if needed. Serve and enjoy.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring often so the rice doesn’t stick to the pan, for 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and coconut milk then season with sea salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low. Cover and let cook 20 minutes.

Remove the rice from the burner without removing the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and fluff rice with a fork. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and mix until well combined. Taste & re-season if needed. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

Recipe for Spicy Mexican Slaw with Lime and Cilantro

This Spicy Mexican Slaw is a salad I make over and over again!

Don’t you love it when you stumble on a recipe with such a perfect combination of ingredients that after one bite you know you’ll be making it over and over again? That’s just how I felt when I tasted this fabulous cabbage salad. I have in fact made it two more times in less than two weeks, and completely loved it each time. As soon as I read the recipe in Fine Cooking Annual 2008, with an ingredient list that included cabbage, cilantro, mayo, and lime I knew I’d be making it soon. I did adapt the recipe a little, and since I like my cabbage salads to stay crunchy, I completely ignored the recipe instructions to salt and drain the cabbage.

Thinly slice cabbage, using a mandoline or food processor if desired. Slice green onions, and wash, dry and chop cilantro. (I use a Mini salad spinner to wash herbs and spin them dry.) Combine cabbage, green onions and cilantro in large salad bowl.

In small bowl, whisk together, mayo, lime juice, and hot sauce. (You may want to start with less than the full amount of lime juice and hot sauce and keep adding until you have the desired blend of sour/hot flavor.)

Use a wooden spoon to mix dressing into cabbage mixture. Season to taste with salt and serve immediately, or chill for a few hours.

This salad will keep well overnight in the refrigerator, but the lime juice will cause the red cabbage to bleed color and turn the salad slightly pink. If you’re making extra you might want to use all green cabbage, although I didn’t mind the pink color at all when I ate the leftovers!

Add all the cabbage and leave to cook until they are wilted. This should take about 10 mins or less. [1 1/2 cups of liquid is not enough to cover all the cabbage, don’t worry, the cabbage leaves give out a lot of water.]

When all the leaves are soft, add goji berries and leave to simmer for another 5 mins.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Variations:

Marmite works well too.

If I run out of low sodium chicken stock, I use water + a bit of Knorr chicken powder.

Finely chop the Chinese cabbage, the fennel bulb, some of the fennel leaves and the apple. Juice the lime and mix with olive oil, mustard and salt. In a bowl mix the salad, pour in the dressing and top with pine nuts.

I did not realize that last weeks post only went to those that signed up for direct e-mail updates and not the general blog in time for the 3 pick up on Monday…..all fixed now. Sorry for any confusion.

Another big week here in the garden. We are pleased that all 200+ pepper plants are settling into their new home. Lots of delicious and colorful sweet bells, bull horn varieties as well as a fun mini sweet called Lunchbox. 4 hot and medium hot varieties too for salsas and stuffing. The eggplants are happy next to their neighbors the cauliflower and both crops enjoyed a few perfect rain showers. We transplanted all the watermelon and muskmelon starts out on Thursday night. 3 of our favorite watermelon and a reliable and tasty muskmelon called Pride of WI. It should be quite a bounty! We finished the watermelon job with time to spare and quickly seeded in a long long row and then some of edamame. Anytime we had a spare minute we would WEED and WEED and WEED. This is the time of year that is so important to stay on top of all the weeds, they can quickly overtake a patch and choke out a crop. The sweet potato slips I mentioned last week arrived and are beautiful. Scott and I will get them transplanted in tomorrow as the last big deal crop to get in the ground.

Maeve likes to play “train” when the boxes are lined up ready to be packed in the morning.

WHAT IS IN YOU BOX

Salad Turnips-We look forward to these every Spring and Fall. A nice crop of 4 varieties-2 white and 2 scarlet. We should have at least a few weeks harvest. Not too spicy and NOT the big Fall turnips. Delicious raw on salads or can be roasted or fried.

Radishes-The same tasty mix as last week. This harvest finishes up the bed.

Garlic Scapes-The top cutting of the garlic plant. Tastes just like the garlic bulb that we will be eating in the near future. Use it in any way you would use garlic. Stores well in the refrigerator sealed in an airtight bag or container.

garlic scapes in the garden.

Lettuce-Another very pretty head this week, an oak leaf variety.

Spinach-A 1/4 pound bag for everyone! We are thinking that this will be the last week. The patch is slowing down. Leaves are not as juicy and sweet as when the temperatures are cool and a few plants are wanting to bolt. Spinach will revisit in the Fall.

Swiss Chard-Beautiful!!!! Big bunches. Swiss chard looks (and tastes!) fantastic this year. Long tender stalks and delicious thick juicy leaves. Maeve was eating it right out of the garden as I was harvesting.

Pea Shoots-A treat! Just cut these little mini vines and add to your salads or sandwiches. Packed full of wonderful pea flavor. They are “cut and come again”. Just snip with a scissor what you would like for your meal and they will keep growing. Store on a bright windowsill in a shallow plate or bowl. Keep moist water when needed.

Strawberries- 1/2 pound+ pint. Erdman group this week. Baraboo group next week. This is the first year of our berry patch and it is still developing. We liked the idea of splitting the group so everyone would get a nice basket with their box.

Scott had to reinforce the trellis as the vines are so big and plentiful.

Broccoli, and storage cabbage seeded in for another round….

A Few recipes……..

Garlic Scape Aioli

Two egg yolks *
Juice of one lemon
1/2 to 3/4 cups olive oil (extra virgin preferable and use the good stuff, you will notice the difference)
Garlic scapes, about a handful
Salt & Pepper to taste (a pinch or two should do it)

METHOD:

First, roughly chop the garlic scapes then give them a few whirls in the food processor until nice and small (no one wants lumpy aioli!).

Next, add the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper but DON’T turn on the blender yet! Get your olive oil ready. When you are ready add the olive oil in a steady, thin stream while pulsing the food processor. As soon as all the olive oil has been added, stop pulsing. You are making an emulsion here, so over mixing can cause it to “break” and separate.

If you’d like to add fresh herbs, chop them finely and gently fold them in at this point.

That’s it! You just made mayonnaise! It really is SO easy and the possibilities are endless. I’m thinking basil (pesto aioli with fresh tomatoes??), fresh parsley or even thyme and sage for a tasty chicken salad?

Homemade aioli, unlike the big vats of mayo at the grocery store, is fresh and is best consumed within a couple of days. Be sure to store in a lidded container and keep refrigerated.

In a larges skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half of hte chard and cook, 1 to 2 minutes. When the first half has wilted, add the remaining chard. When all of the chard is wilted, add the chicken broth. Cover the skillet and cook the chard until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the chard through a fine sieve (strainer) and set it aside.

Wipe out the skillet and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until they are softened, about 2 minutes. Add the chard and chickpeas and cook until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Drizzle the lemon juice over the mixture and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle cheese on top just before serving, if desired.

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil, and line a plate with paper towels.

2. Put everything except the Swiss chard and oil in a blender or food processor, making sure you season the mix generously with salt and pepper, and whir until the batter is smooth. (If your machine won’t handle this quantity, work in batches.) Little by little, add the chard to the mix and whir to incorporate it. There’s no need to pulverize the chard — having some strands is nice.

3. Pour ¼ to ½ inch of oil into a large skillet and place the skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (a drop of batter should seize immediately), spoon in a scant ¼ cup batter for each pancake — don’t crowd the pan: depending on the size of the pan, 4 pancakes is probably max per batch. Cook the pancakes for about 3 minutes, until the underside is nicely browned and the edges are browned and curled. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Transfer the pancakes to the paper-towel-lined plate, cover with more towels, and pat off the excess oil. Place them on the foil-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you continue to make pancakes, adding more oil to the pan as needed.

Serving:Traditionally, farçous are served with a salad as a main course, but you could serve fewer per portion as a starter or omit the salad and serve them as a side dish. If you want to serve thefarçous as an hors d’oeuvre, you might want to include a dipping sauce or topping of crème fraîche,cervelle de canut, or plain yogurt. You might also think about drizzling them with a little basil or parsley coulis— they don’t really need the coulis, but it’s a good combination.

Storing:You can make the farçous a few hours ahead, keep them covered at room temperature, and reheat them in a conventional oven or microwave before serving. Or you can pack them airtight (make sure to separate them with small squares of wax or parchment paper) and freeze them, then reheat as needed.

Swiss Chard LasagnaServes 6 to 8

You can sub in 2 pounds of frozen spinach for the Swiss chard if you really need to make this a pantry/freezer dish. This is going to sound nuts, but you can also go really light on the pasta. Simply space the pasta sheets a bit further apart in the dish – you can get away with 2 sheets per layer and you won’t even be able to tell it’s a lower-carb lasagna.

Make the sauce. Place the basil and garlic in the food process and pulse til finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and salt and blend until smooth.

For the greens: in a large saucepan with a lid, sauté the garlic in oil until golden over medium heat. Add the chard and lower the heat. Toss the chard with the garlic and oil, then cover for 4 minutes, until the leaves are wilted. Take off the lid and add the lemon zest, white wine and salt. Let most of the liquid cook off. Add the lemon juice. Stir, then set aside to cool slightly.

For the cheese filling: reserve 1 cup of the fresh mozzarella. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, 1 cup parmesan, the rest of the mozz, the eggs, and lots of pepper. Mix well.

Now you’ve got to put the stuff in your lasagna pan, in this order:

1/2 cup sauce

1 layer noodles–enough to cover the sauce, leaving at least 1/2 inch in between each noodle

Half of the cheese filling, spread evenly

Half of the Swiss chard, scattered evenly

1 cup sauce

1 layer noodles

The second half of the cheese

Second half of the spinach

1 layer noodles

1 cup sauce

Remaining 1 cup mozzarella

Remaining 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Bake, covered in foil, for 45 minutes. Place a baking sheet beneath to catch drippings. Remove the foil and let the lasagna cook for 20 more minutes.